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Digital mandolin plans/drawings

Hello all,

I have a copy of the full-scale blueprint drawings for an f-style mandolin that come with Roger Siminoffs book, and I also see that you can buy similar plans and drawings on a couple of different websites. My question is, does anyone out there sell digital versions of these drawings?

On a different note, for those of you that are utilizing some sort of CAD software, what program/s do you use?

Re: Digital mandolin plans/drawings

Plenty of people have CAD files of F-style and A-style instruments. Usually, though, they have developed them for their own use, and don't sell them. Not that they wouldn't, for the right price...
Also, most luthiers are not serious CAD jockeys, and prefer to make instruments rather than make drawings. A good set of plans can easily take as long to produce than an instrument.
So most luthiers use Photoshop, Illustrator, Rhino, and AutoCAD, or some combination thereof.

For serious production work using a CNC, a parametric CAD system is essential. SolidWorks, Creo (formerly Pro/E), or Unigraphics NX. Since these programs are expensive, you won't find them in most small shops.

DraftSight is a free AutoCAD clone. It does everything AutoCAD does, except for 3D. It's a great drafting tool, though, especially if you have previous AutoCAD experience.

Re: Digital mandolin plans/drawings

Real digital mandolins aren't much fun to play, or listen to. You can only play two notes: "On" and "Off". Oh, you can play chords, sure.. but you need multiple mandolins to do it. And they're all playing the same note, so the only way you know what chord is being played is by counting them.
After a full set of that nonsense, a basic pentatonic lick sounds like Maurice Ravel!

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Re: Digital mandolin plans/drawings

Originally Posted by Marty Jacobson

Plenty of people have CAD files of F-style and A-style instruments. Usually, though, they have developed them for their own use, and don't sell them. Not that they wouldn't, for the right price...
Also, most luthiers are not serious CAD jockeys, and prefer to make instruments rather than make drawings. A good set of plans can easily take as long to produce than an instrument.
So most luthiers use Photoshop, Illustrator, Rhino, and AutoCAD, or some combination thereof.

For serious production work using a CNC, a parametric CAD system is essential. SolidWorks, Creo (formerly Pro/E), or Unigraphics NX. Since these programs are expensive, you won't find them in most small shops.

DraftSight is a free AutoCAD clone. It does everything AutoCAD does, except for 3D. It's a great drafting tool, though, especially if you have previous AutoCAD experience.

You can also get actual AutoCAD for free if you are a student, or teacher.

Re: Digital mandolin plans/drawings

Originally Posted by PaniniWar

You can also get actual AutoCAD for free if you are a student, or teacher.

That's true -- and while that was also true 5 years ago when we were discussing this, it was a hassle to get acess. Now you just go to the site and download it.
Today, though, I would never recommend using AutoCAD. That would be like recommending that someone use a steam engine for a machine they're building. If you're starting from scratch, learn Fusion360, which is free even if you aren't a student or educator.

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Re: Digital mandolin plans/drawings

Originally Posted by Jritter3

Hello all,

I have a copy of the full-scale blueprint drawings for an f-style mandolin that come with Roger Siminoffs book, and I also see that you can buy similar plans and drawings on a couple of different websites. My question is, does anyone out there sell digital versions of these drawings?

On a different note, for those of you that are utilizing some sort of CAD software, what program/s do you use?

I've used DesignCAD2D for years for all sorts of drawings. I used to produce full size construction prints for musical instruments and used to provide them in pdf form for end users, but had to halt that because my earlier work started to show up on free file sharing sites.
That's why you don't see many of us who have spent countless hours becoming proficient with CAD drawing openly sharing dxf files that could take many hours of concentrated work to produce.